The Rat Catcher's Olympics (Dr. Siri Paiboun #12) by Colin Cotterill. The twelfth installment of this series set in 1970's Laos that I have been really enjoying (only a few more to go!). This actually is now 1980, and our septuagenarian hero and his wife Daeng manage to accompany the few Lao athletes who will be competing in the Russian summer Olympics (boycotted by the US and most other western countries)... as they try to figure out who is targeting someone to assassinate. What was neatest about this was just the setting in Moscow, and then the enthusiasm of the Lao audience even when it was clear that their poor athletes had no chance of taking home a medal.... with the possible exception of their race walker, who ultimately did not win either. Siri continues to try to commune effectively with the spirit world and seems to be getting better. Just a nice fun read in the middle of other less engaging books!

on the bench near the entrances